Saturday, 18 July 2015

Flag

The time finally came to make my contribution to the pension funds of those nice people at Pennine Cruisers.

Alternator repair, 500 hour engine service, pump out, fill the diesel tank – came to a tidy penny. Made what I gave them two days ago for the new tiller pin pale into insignificance. Ah well, they let me fill the water tank for free.

And the time also came to move away from the rather nice mooring opposite them. We're here in Skipton for the weekend, but I couldn't justify spending any more time on those particular rings. Must show willing. So we moved around the corner to where, happily, a space had opened up this morning on, unhappily, a bendy bit of pavement / towpath. The spacing of the rings is OK, but I would like to lock Erin Mae into position with a spring line to prevent too much movement when other boats go by. The curve is too great, and the rings too awkwardly placed, to get a proper one set, but I've done a fudge which will have to do.

Just in front is a wide beam sporting a Norwegian flag.

We didn't really imagine they'd sailed across the North Sea to Yorkshire like their Viking forbears, and anything less like a longship is hard to imagine. Anyway, when they emerged from inside we went over for a chat – having our own Norwegian family has to count for something. They were thoroughly enjoying their holiday, the second they'd had in this fashion.

Like yesterday, I also found that polishing the boat is guaranteed to stimulate conversation with all sorts of people. At least a dozen stopped to comment, and only about half to suggest that they had a similar job waiting at home if I cared to stop by. Among them were a recently retired couple from Western Australia, over here for 6 months and cruising in their own narrowboat. They have a grandchild in Budapest – and that makes managing our Oslo family seem very straightforward by comparison.

I wonder if we should get our own Norwegian flag when they come over in, goodness me, three weeks time.